Indian Sociology will be the focus of Sociology- II.

Hinduism is the way of life, not a religion.

Dharma, rita, spirituality are the essence of Indian society.
Culture of tolerance, harmony and tolerance

HINDUISM
Is Hinduism a way of life or is it a religion?
Hinduism is neither a collection of dogma nor some beliefs – it is a way of living life.
Morality and spiritual beliefs is of primary importance and ______ is secondary.
“Hindu” – means people who live nearby the Indus River.
Sanatan Dharma – eternal religion – no creator present
Vedanta Dharma, Arya Dharma
Principles followed by Hindus is Hinduism.
What are the characteristics that make Hinduism different/similar from other religions in the
world?
Religion is a set of beliefs followed by the different parts of India.
Where did these set of beliefs originate tho?
1. No common founder or authority
2. It’s a synthesis of different sects – vaishanivsm, shaivism
3. Way of life – psychological, social and ethical.
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What are the unique features of Hinduism?
1. In Hinduism, there is abstract and concrete God. Concrete is a personified god
whereas an abstract god is a metaphysical existence. The distinction between abstract
and concrete god is unique to Hinduism.
2. Isht/kul devata – a family/ clan owes it loyalty to this god or goddess.
3. Philosophical school of thought in religion – astik darshan and nastik darshan is
termed whether you study the vedas or not – Jainism and Buddhism are not associated
with the Vedas.
4. Quest of ultimate reality and ethical aspect is given in the sacred texts.
5. Certain questions of sociology are answered in the guidance that is provided by
Hinduism. The questions of society is answered from a normative perspective in the
Hinduism.
6. Practices tolerance (sadbhav) and adaptability towards other traditions and cultures.
7. Concept of purity and polluted – some groups are polluted while some are pure – this
creates a hierarchical concepts – creates a social stratification.
8. Subhav and guna – dteremines personality – brhman, Kshatriya, Vaishnava, shudra
9. Principle of karma – actions have reactions – there is no concept of destiny, but your
own actions reap fruits – and your guna is determined because of karma (what youre
 reborn as in the next birth will be determined from the actions of this birth) - rightness
and wrongness is determined on the concept of morality.
Considering all this, the dominant view is that Hinduism become a way of life rather than
religion.
Socio-ethical aspect of Hinduism
Social aspect - varna
Varna system – open system of stratification. Even if youre born in the lower varna, you can
change it through your own efforts. There is a hierachial system available and this is decided
on the basis of personality and actions.
Psychological aspect – ashram system
Ashram system – If the life span of a human is 100 ages, then the life of the individual will be
approximately divided into certain groups with certain guidelines. According to the aging of
the person what should be the requisite psychological development
There are 4 divisions in a human life – bhramacharya ashram, bhristya ashram, bhanuprasta
ashram and Sanyas Ashram.
Ethical aspect – Purushad
Depends on your objectives in life. Combination of ends and means.
1. When you are living a materialistic life, then it is only fulfilling your desires.
2. When you are living a spiritual life, Moksha – ultimate goal and dharma the means to
achieve it.
Duties to be performed by the actors in the society are provided by Hindu texts.
Authoritative texts of Hinduism – two broad categories—
1. Shruti – primary authority – vedas - direct interaction with the divine experience –
what is heard.
2. Smriti – secondary – what is remembered
SHRUTI
Vedas – book of knowledge
1. Rig Veda
2. Yajur Veda
3. Sam Veda
4. Atharva Veda
Each veda has 4 parts. These vedas are correlated with the 4 ashrams.
1. Mantra Sahmita – material prosperity – bhramacharya ashram
2. Bhrama – Grahastya ashram
3. Aryanakya – duty towards others – Bhanuprasta ashram
4. Upnishads – Sanyas Ashram
Based on the varna, gender, marital status you belong, different guidelines will be prescribed
to you.
 1. Karma kanda, - ritual section - Mantra and Bharma
2. Upasana kand – Aranyaka
3. Upanishad – Gyan kand (attaintment of knowledge – that you are not different from
the param atma)
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The synthetization of these 3 kands – a holistic guideline on how to live life.
There is a lot of influence of Vedic literature on other Indian literature such as the puranas of
smriti.
Pravati – materialistic life/ nivriti – realisation of truth (sense of belonging with param atma)
Can I attend moksh when I am living? YES, jeevan mukti – realisation with param atma.
When the body perishes, then vidhey mukti.
Actions should be with a detached attitude towards the results. Actions will be rewarded or
punished – but don’t worry about it. Don’t be happy or sad about the results – stithi pragya.
SMRITI
1. Dharma Shastra – relevant to law. It is a codification of how to live life. All the social
systems are provided in detail. Some of the famous lawgivers are Manu and
Yagnavikya.
2. Bhagvad Gita – How you should live your life
3. Puran – Instruments of popular teaching. Provide moral stories and songs. There are
18 purans
4. Agam – Relates to three main sects – Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism. There are
different forms of god and this provides the guidelines on whom to worship.
Astik/Nastik – Astik – vedic teaching as authority – accepting it and extending it.
Nastik – vedas are not accepted especially the karam kand – religions such as Buddhism and
Jainism arose as a reaction against Vedas. They say that religion is a way of life and there is
no creator destroyer, or sustainer. They have the concept of ‘theerthankar’/nirvana which
means that all the common people can attain it. These religions gained popularity because
they professed it in the language of the commons – NOT in Sanskrit. It was based on the
language of Prakriti and on the simple concepts of truth, non-violence and equality (everyone
van attain nirvana)
Nyaya, _____, shankya, yoga, mimansa and Vedanta – are 6 schools of thought which have
different interpretation of the Vedic literature. All of these schools of thought have different
interpretation of what is the ultimate truth.
**missed for 2 mins** - something about Darshan and astik and nastic
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The beauty of Indian culture is that there is a synthetization of the spiritual of materialistic
life. Even in contemporary society, we are following these ancient concepts
Purushartha
Attainment of life purpose. It is a socio-ethical concept. Approach of scholars and people was
normative in nature. Instead of what society IS, we discuss what the society SHOULD BE –
Ram rajya – an ideal utopian concept of governing a state.
This concept is concerned with two questions. What is the life purpose? Is the basic question
and the natural following corollary is – how to achieve this objective?
The Indian culture is a synthesis between spiritual and material aspects as we try to achieve
the material aspects through spiritual means.
There are two schools of thought regarding this
1. There is one school of thought which says – the ultimate aim of life is moksha and the
means are dharma, kaama and artha.
2. And the second school of thought divides the life according to materialistic and
spiritual life.
i. In materialistic life – Kaama is the end and Dharma is the means.
ii. In spiritual life – Moksha is the end and Dharma is the means.
As ethical means of obtaining the ultimate goal is provided, it means that the unethical ones
are condemned and are proscribed.
There are 4 important concepts under this
1. Dharma
(root word – dhri) – holding together and sustaining. The philosophical and metaphysical
(something beyond physics and cannot be perceived through physical sensations) meaning is
that the whole of cosmos is concerned with one rule. This is called rta.
And the sociological meaning is that ….
S. Radhakrishna – every form of life has some principles that governs it and the opposition to
it is adharma
P.V. Kane – Dharma is NOT a religion, but it is a mode of life and code of conduct through
which life is regulated.
Example- I am a Kshatriya – then my duty is to fight and I cannot evade this even when it is
my family standing opposite to me.
i. Samana dharma
ii. Rajya dharma
iii. Stree dharma
iv. Dhampatya dharma
v. Varna dharma
vi. Ashram dharma
vii. Apad dharma – duties in crisis situation. If you follow the principle of non-violence,
you cannot sit quietly when violence is inflicted on you. In crisis, you have to
MODIFY your duties.
Status is determined by your personality (swabhav) and efforts NOT birth.
This was supposed to be how it is – but then we started developing a CLOSED society where
everything was determined on the basis of which caste we were born in.
2. Artha
Artha is wealth. This is materialistic aspect of life and is not neglected by the Hindu texts.
However, this money should be obtained through ethical means of dharma.
3. Kaama
Every human has certain dersires and pleasure and every human is supposed to fulfil them.
These are emotional, aesthetic and sexual in nature and they should be fulfilled. However,
they have to be fulfilled through ethical ways and certain values and norms have to be upheld
while doing so.
4.
As a human, we are keeping an eye on the result. But when we attain liberation, we should
realise that we are one with the ultimate truth.
Basically, purushartha is an interplay of these 4 concepts for the purposes of regulating one’s
life. It gives a direction of how there can be a harmony of spirituality and materialism. These
concepts still remain the essence of our modern lives.
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Missing
Types of gunas - Satva, raja and tama
Based on our swabhav – personality we should make decisions such as determining
profession.
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Varna system
Based on the sort of specialization you can offer to the society, you could adopt any of the 4
varnas. This varna system is a open vertical stratification and is based on your personality
(swabhava) and specialization (swadharma). Caste is based on birth whereas varna is based
on the individual. Varna was created for the purpose of division of labour.
This varna system slowly deteriorated to the caste system which is a closed system of vertical
stratification. Even occupation was transferred from one generation to another.
Traditional theory
Purush sukta in Rig Veda gives the reason for emergence of varna. This is the 4 different
organs of the purush (ultimate reality). These different varnas were born out of the 4 different
body parts of the virat purush.
Brahmin – mind (use of mind is a lot); Kshatriya- arms or shoulders, Vaishya- thighs
(sustenance of economy), and Shudra – feet (serving class – who serve the other parts). Louis
Demouth?? Gave the existence of the fifth varna which is the untouchables – who were
outside all these parts.
Marriage between –
 1. H ypergamy (anilom) – a woman of lower varna marrying a man of higher varna is
not problematic as she is receiving higher gotra.
2. Hypogamy (pratilom) where a woman of a higher varna marries a man of lower varna
is problematic as she is deteriorating her status. The child born out of this union is
‘chandal’ and constituted the untouchables. Initially in the varna system, there were
no restrictions; these things only came in later.
In recent times, the caste and class concept has gotten intermixed – it is not proportional
anymore. Higher caste doesn’t mean higher class – a Brahmin could belong to a lower class.
The varna system is functional and contributes to the unity of the society.
Conclusiom
Evolution of a religion and characteristics of a religion
There is no single religious text which governs the dogma of Hindu religion. It is a
synthesiztion of various structures. The rise of other religions also contributed in the setting
of strict hierarchal structures.
Whether the Indian society is the Hindu society?
Whether there was a nation India? Or was it just different cultures followed by a community
of people? India as making of a country and constitution should also be considered.
But if we understand the origin of the Indian culture from the very point of origin, what is my
socio-culture then? Then we see that there are foreign cultures and we are adopting them –
this is because our ancient culture we did NOT have the concept of child marriages. We only
adopted it from the western culture because they were modernized. We are borrowing a lot of
cultural trends from other nations and these may not be ideal – our ancient culture should be
revived.
This is justified as we look at our ancient culture, then for instance, the varna system is
justified because it is based on the scientific principles.
Dev rin, rishi rin and ______ - were the loans that a hindu has to fulfil.
Characteristics of Hindu society
It has a hierachial system – a vertically arranged varna system. The system was an OPEN
system because the society was not rigid and allowed you to move from one sect to aother.
But slowly, this system deteriorated, and the system became rigid. Moreover, the ascribed
status factor seeped in such as age – elderly is respected in India. However, when the varna
system got rigidified, then the importance attributed to ascribed status weighed in and the
higher varnas begin to derive more respect. This system became an ascribed status instead of
achieved status.
In the ancient system, the marriage was shaped differently and the duties and obligations
were assigned beforehand. Now we have adopted different cultures,
The hindu also believes in karma theory. This doesn’t mean that our destiny is predecided – it
is just that hindus are asked to focus on their actions and reduce the importance of results.